Here is where I keep some of the bits of inspiration I like to refer back to.
Getting Started
"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of
paper until drops of blood form on your forehead."
Gene Fowler
(1890-1960): Writer, author
Minimalism
"There comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you
forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest
importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out
the useful ones."
Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle (1859-1930): British writer, physician, created
Sherlock Holmes
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519): Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician,
engineer, scientist
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."
Albert Einstein
(1875-1955): German-born American theoretical physicist,
theories of relativity, philosopher
"Add lightness."
Colin Chapman:
Founder of Lotus Auto
"You know you've achieved perfection in design, not when you
have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to
take away."
Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery: Pilot, Poet, Man (1900
- 1944)
Ego
"Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some
useful hints for the better ordering of the universe."
Alfonso the Wise
(1221-1284)
"Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good
design for a bus."
David Hockney (b.
1937): British artist
Know Your Audience
"A common mistake that people make when trying to design
something completely foolproof is to underestimate the
ingenuity of complete fools."
Douglas Noel Adams
(1952-2001): Author, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
"The average U.S. adult Internet user will spend 9.5 months
of his life reading e-mail. The average U.S. adult without
Net access will spend 4.7 years watching television."
Cyber Dialogue
(April, 2000)
"Usability is like oxygen--you never notice it until it is
missing."
Unknown
Purpose and Direction
"Good design should encourage decision-making by helping to
evaluate choices."
David A. Ruble:
Author and designer
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
Ralph Waldo
Emerson (1803-1882)
"When the going gets rough, you are obviously in the wrong
place."
Miss Piggy: Muppet
Process
"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."
Mark Twain (1835-1910): Editor, steamboat pilot, adventurer, humorist, author
"When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I
only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have
finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is
wrong."
R. Buckminster
Fuller (1895-1983): Engineer, designer, and architect
"Creating a quality product is like making love to a gorilla.
You can't quit when you are happy; you stop when the gorilla
is satisfied."
Unknown
"If you always do what you always did, you always get what
you always got."
Unknown
"A creative insightful informed human designing the software
will do much better than any method."
Seth Nickell
Interaction Designer, GNOME Usability
"Get the habit of analysis - analysis will, in time, enable
synthesis to become your habit of mind."
Frank Lloyd Wright
(1867-1959): American architect